Scholarship Funds

Why Does Hillel Have a Scholarship Fund?

Yotzim must support themselves by working while studying. However, because at this time in life they have not yet acquired profitable work skills, they are usually not capable of earning more than minimum wages. Furthermore, many of their Hassidic families, who often suffer from poor work qualifications and low incomes, are neither inclined nor able to extend to their breakaway children significant moral or financial support. In these circumstances, yotzim are constantly under pressure to stop studying.

Accordingly, Hillel established and maintains its Scholarship Fund so that opportunities to acquire a matriculation certificate, and to complete academic and professional training, will be available to every deserving yotze. As a result, despite having to work long hours and make up much lost ground, most yotzim manage to score very impressive educational achievements and acquire the skills and knowledge they need to become independent and successful individuals in a modern society. What seems quite clear is that, without Hillel's scholarship aid, many of the yotzim would never go so far.

The Future of the Scholarship Fund

The Fund's biggest challenge today is to grow and thereby keep up with the increasing number of yotzim who are joining Hillel and need its help. It would be a bitter disappointment to all of us if, for lack of adequate financial resources, yotzim were constrained from leaving educational programs after studying only for a year or two.

Yet because the Scholarship Fund has few permanent sources of income -- for example, it receives no money from government agencies -- Hillel administrators must replenish the Fund's resources every year. We therefore hope in the next few years to establish a more permanent base of contributions, from Israel and from abroad, that will put the Fund on a less precarious footing. For example, every year we award grants that are provided by families in the memory of beloved relatives. Whatever the format, we feel it is only fair that yotzim will have the support they need from Hillel to make up for what they did not learn in Hassidic schools generously funded by Government ministries such as the Ministry of Education.

The Hillel Scholarship Program operates in cooperation with the Dalia and Eli Hurvitz Foundation